Explore with Mahjong Artifacts

Total Score: 27.5

Mahjong Artifacts HD combines your standard Mahjong game and a historical story and trek through the world. If you match the two golden tiles you get a piece of an artifact and are directed to the next site to explore. The game is happily addictive. You’ll experience variety, exploration and story telling. For a casual gamer like me, this one is a hit.

Price Rating = 5 Free. When I downloaded this it indicated it was once $4.99, so the price could be higher later.

Ease of Use Rating = 5The app is easy to use and has a tutorial to help explain special features.

Readability Rating = 4On the iPad it is perfect, on the iPhone, it is difficult to read. You do have the ability to zoom in and magnify the tiles when on an iPhone.

Will You Use It Rating =5If you like single player/solitaire type games, you’ll find this one pleasantly addictive.

Downsides Rating = -1 With a free app you can expect adds. For some of them, it is difficult to understand what you need to do to continue playing the game. After a bit of experience, you can get through them quickly.

Consumer Review Rating = 4.5 It has been reviewed over 1,100 times and the comments are very positive.

Why Do You Need This App Rating = 5 There have been some scientific studies that conclude that playing games that involve new situations can improve your memory. That is good for any age.

How does it work?

When you open the app you will be asked to enter your name. It does not ask for any additional information.

After an introductory screen about the adventure, you are taken to a tutorial.

From here the game proceeds like a traditional Mahjong game. You match tiles and remove them from the board and try to find two golden tiles. The differences include some special tiles that can remove specific tiles, or all the tiles of the same type – regardless of where they are on the board.

As you move into different countries the tiles change to match the typical iconography of that land.

Once you have completed a game you get your points, your time and a few accolades based on your skill. And, most importantly – a piece of an artifact. You continue in that country until you have the artifact complete.

In between countries you have a short screen in graphic novel-type design.

Once you play for a while and collect all the artifacts you can go on to play either classic Mahjong or endless play – which ties back to the artifacts, but without the graphic novel.

For the most part I’m not a gamer. I do love solitaire, and find myself addicted to this game. I like the changing tiles and learning new strategies to finish the game in fewer steps. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Devices: This app can be used on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It requires iOS 6.0 or later. The app is developed G5 games.